Please note that this form appears to show the formation quite late in the passage, as several ships, including the Commodore's ship and the Vice Commodore's ship are not mentioned on the form. The ships missing from this table are named in the Notes below.

Am=American (U.S.), Norw=Norwegian, Br=British, Pa=Panamanian, Ru=U.S.S.R.

If you read Norwegian, my Warsailor Stories section has the story of Tormund Gjertsen, who mentions an episode when his ship Hallanger was en route to the U.S. in a horrendous storm. He says he has never forgotten it, because they saw an SOS signal from a ship in the convoy and signalled her that they would assist. However, just then Hallanger herself experienced engine problems which forced her to stop, and they were never able to rescue any men from the sinking ship. I believe this must have been while they were in ON 160, and the ship in difficulty must have been Ville de Tamatave. For several hours it looked bad for Hallanger as well, but they were eventually able to fix their problems and continued to New York.

According to the Rear Commodore's notes, 29 ships actually sailed in the convoy, 27 of which were present on arrival local rendezvous.

Average speed: 6 knots.

The following ships parted company (none of these are included on the A 1 form):
Perth (Rescue Ship*), Kingman, Selfoss, Nadin, Glaisdale, Dunsley and Thraki - detached for Halifax on Febr. 1 in approx. 42 50N 63 35W.
Empire Opossum deatched for St. John's on Jan. 26 in 35 40N 47 05W.
Russian Ob detached for Halifax on Jan. 31 in 43 00N 61 30W.

* Perth was on her 18th voyage as Rescue Ship, having started this voyage from Clyde on Jan. 11, to Halifax Febr. 2. She later returned to the U.K. with Convoy SC 120 from Halifax on Febr. 15, to Clyde March 5-1943. (Info from "Convoy Rescue Ships 1940-1945", Arnold Hague).

Empire Lakeland left convoy on Jan. 23 (no reason given).
Swedish San Francisco detached for South Atlantic port, and Charles R. McCormick detached for Baltimore on Febr. 3 in approx. 39 55N 66 00W.
W. G. Warden left for Baltimore on Febr. 5.

The following ships lost touch in the course of the voyage:
Date given as Jan. 25: Ville de Tamatave (Commodore) and Maplewood (Vice Commodore).
On Febr. 3: Kuzbass, Bonita, Salinas and Mironych.

Peter Helms (Am) returned to Iceland with boiler trouble (not included on A 1 form).

Stragglers (not listed on A 1 form):
White Clover (Pa), Fairfax (Am), Empire Boswell, Empire Summer (both Br), Philip T. Dodge (Am).

Halifax portion (joined on Febr. 1 in 42 53N 62 35W):
Fort Amherst, Permian, Mironych, Herma, Komsomolets Arctiki, Kingbass (should this be Kuzbass?), Cowrie, Cape Porpoise, Bonita, Granville, and the Norwegian Gudvor, Garnes, Solitaire, Ragnhild.

The Rear Commodore says
that towards evening of Jan. 23. the convoy experienced winds of hurricane force, with mountainous seas and swell. A message was received from the Commodore saying that his rudder had been carried away. About an hour later another message was received stating that his ship, Ville de Tamatave, required immediate assistance as she was sinking. Nothing further was heard from her; as mentioned further up on this page, she later went down with all her men.

The Rear Commodore continues: "The following day (meaning Jan. 24) I contacted two vessels, and in company with them proceeded on the voyage; the next day I sighted a ship at 01:00 (the Rescue Ship Perth) and at 15:00 joined up with escort and ten other vessels". At 16:00 on Jan. 26 the Rear Commodore was appointed Commodore, and he says that from then until the end of the voyage the convoy kept very good formation and arrived Ambrose at 13:00Z on Febr. 5.

Contact with escort was lost on Jan. 24, but contacted again at 15:00 on Jan. 25.

Escorts:
HMCS Niagara (from HOMP to Halifax), HMS Campanula, Mignonette, Salisbury, HMCS Rimouski.
Western local escort south (from HOMP to New York).: HMCS Nanaimo, Lachine, Moncton (S.O.).

Different planes were sighted at intervals, but type and time not known.

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